


unexpected epiphanies

by ShirosRedKnight (SweetFanfics)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A bit into Stayin' Alive, Hunk helps Keith realize his feelings, Keith and Hunk talk, M/M, Missing Scene, Post The Belly of the Weblum, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 01:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9410930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/ShirosRedKnight
Summary: “There’s. Well. There issomethingwe could talk about but it’s kinda personal.”Hunk immediately turns to frown at him, eyes narrowed into slits. “Howpersonal are we talking like. My-farts-smell-funky personal, I’ve-been-having-weird-dreams personal or I-need-you-to-check-this-weird-rash-on-my-crotch personal?”This immediately raisessomany questions about Hunk and Lance’s friendship. Keith has to shove at least ten questions he wants to ask off the top of his head to consider Hunk’s query.“I guess it’s close to “I’ve-been-having-weird-dreams personal”?”“I can work with that. Lay it on me. What’s the situation?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I could potentially revisit in the future. All depends on how s3 goes.
> 
> Thank you Mimi for the quick beta-ing <3 If there's any mistakes left, that's all on me lol.

Keith shifts up to his feet, moving to rest one arm on Hunk’s seat before leaning in, “How much longer till it’s safe to open a wormhole and jump to the Castle?”

 

“We gotta get out of all this debris first. It took us about 10  _ vargons _ coming in.”

 

_ Great _ . Keith sighs to himself.  _ Wish we’d come out here on Red. Who knows how many more questions Hunk’s going to ask him about being Galra _ .

 

It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate the fact that Hunk’s not treating him any differently than usual. But all these questions are starting to grate on Keith’s nerves. There’s only so many times he can say, “I don’t know.” before he wants to yell. 

 

Speaking of which. Keith realizes Hunk’s been quiet for a tick too long.

 

Keith slowly glances down at the yellow paladin. Who, sure enough, is staring way too intensely at him. There’s something about that look, all squinty eyed curiosity that makes Keith frown. “Are you trying to see if my skin is purple?”

 

Hunk’s eyes drag away as he drags out the word, “Nooo.”

 

_ He totally was. What the- _

 

There’s a beeping sound that has both of them turning their attention to the communication’s window. It’s the Princess telling him to return to the Castle immediately. They exchange a look before Keith tells her they’re on the way.

 

_ Now I really wish we’d come in Red. We could be back in at least half that time. Hunk’s probably going to work himself up into a panic thinking about all the things that could go wrong in the time it takes to get there. I gotta make sure we get there battle ready.  _

 

“I can’t stay quiet the entire ride there!” Hunk exclaims, “I’m gonna drive myself nuts stuck in my own head.” 

 

Keith immediately retorts, “Well I don’t want to talk about being Galra because, like I said before! I don’t know anything to tell you!”

 

“Well fine! If we can’t talk about your new half-Galra-ness then  _ you  _ pick a topic.”

 

That’s an acceptable compromise but the only problem is Keith scrambles to think of anything else to talk about. What constitutes as an appropriate subject? Sure they could make small talk about the teladuv and what are the chances of their plan going through without any hiccups but the probability of Hunk’s thoughts spiraling into bad “what-if” scenario’s is just too high. 

 

What he needs is a safe topic. Something personal but not  _ too  _ personal. Something that won’t make Hunk worry. Something that they can talk about till they get to the Castle...

 

His brain immediately brings up something that he’s been thinking about since the trials. Keith opens his mouth and then stops, frowning a little. 

 

“What?” Hunks asks curiously. “What do you want to talk about? Just please tell me it’s not playing I, Spy because I refuse to play that when we’re in our lions and in space.”

 

Keith hurriedly shakes his head because he’s never doing that  _ ever  _ again either. Once was bad enough. “There’s. Well. There is  _ something  _ we could talk about but it’s kinda personal.”

 

Hunk immediately turns to frown at him, eyes narrowed into slits. “ _ How _ personal are we talking like. My-farts-smell-funky personal, I’ve-been-having-weird-dreams personal or I-need-you-to-check-this-weird-rash-on-my-crotch personal?”

 

This immediately raises  _ so  _ many questions about Hunk and Lance’s friendship. Keith has to shove at least ten questions he wants to ask off the top of his head to consider Hunk’s query. 

 

“I guess it’s close to “I’ve-been-having-weird-dreams personal”?”

 

“I can work with that. Lay it on me. What’s the situation?”

 

Crossing his arms, Keith leans back against a side panel and asks, “You remember back when we first formed Voltron?”

 

“Like I can forget.”

 

Keith relaxes with a snort because that’s true. “You said something once we got back to the castle. You said that, we were like brothers now.”

 

There’s a long pause where in Hunk obviously waits for him to continue. But when he doesn’t, Hunk confusedly asks, “Yeah, and?”

 

Keith tightens his grip on his arms before forcing himself to relax. He tells himself it’s okay to open up, there’s no shame or harm in it. It’s Hunk. He’s totally trustworthy. So he exhales, and starts explaining. 

 

“At the end of my trial with the Blade of Marmora, one of the fighters had a suit that made him look like Shiro.”

 

Hunk whips around at that, controls jerking Yellow to the left hard enough that it sends Keith flailing back. The back of his helmet connects with the metal wall hard enough for Keith to feel it through the metal. As he bites back a curse, Hunk yelps, “It did,  _ what _ ?”

 

“Hunk!” Keith snaps at him, gesturing angrily at the flashing controls. 

 

“Sorry! Sorry!” After quickly levelling Yellow, Hunk turns to stare at Keith and asks, “It honestly looked like Shiro?”

 

Annoyed, Keith grumpily crosses his arms again and says, “Looked like him, sounded like him. Felt like the real deal.” He ignored the awed noise Hunk lets out at that before continuing. “That suit is supposed to bring out the other person’s deepest fears and hopes. I guess I was really desperate to see Shiro at that point.”

 

He’s keenly aware of Hunk’s patient gaze on him, silently asking him to continue and explain further. Keith runs his tongue over his dry lips before admitting. “He asked me a bunch of questions. Asked me to hand the knife over and stop. I told that Shiro that... he was like a brother to me but I couldn’t stop. I can’t stop thinking about that.”

 

“What part of it?”

 

Hunk’s gentle tone softens his own voice. Keith pensively lowers his gaze down at his feet as he admits, “The part where I said he’s like a brother to me.”

 

He hears Hunk scratching his nose before he tentatively says, “I’m not following you.”

 

Keith tries not to let his frustration get the better of him. Instead, he bottles that negative feeling up and shoves it deep down inside of him. And instead reroutes his focus on finding the right words to explain himself. It’s a process that’s always felt like pulling teeth out with a plier but it’s necessary from time to time. Like right now for instance.

 

“It’s just that what I feel for him isn’t the same as what I feel for you or Lance.”

 

He braces himself after his admission. Ready for ridicule, reproach, or worse. But Hunk only thoughtfully hums. “Well. How  _ do  _ you feel about him? What’s the difference?”

 

So he does tell Hunk what’s the difference, to the best of his abilities and understanding. It’s disjointed and filled with more frustrated groans than words because Keith’s not sure  _ how  _ to explain it. It’s not like he feels  _ more  _ for Shiro than he does for anyone else. Keith would put himself in the line of fire for  _ any  _ of his friends, same as he did for Shiro. He’d do anything and then some to ensure their safety because they’re his team. They’re his family.

 

“It just. Feels different when I’m with him. I feel calmer. More centered.” Keith shifts in his place, sitting a little more comfortably against the panel, dropping his shoulders a little. “When I’m with him, the whole world just goes quiet. No more noise or anything. It’s just peaceful.”

 

Hunk laughs and coos. “Awww! That sounds like you’re in love with him, man!”

 

Face scrunching in confusion, Keith asks, “Love?”

 

“Love!” 

 

Keith is suddenly keenly aware of several things: his heart is beating too fast, his stomach just bottomed out, and his face is heating up. Even his voice changes, going into a higher pitch as he asks, “Like,  _ love _ ?”

 

“Is there an echo in here? Yeah! Love! L-O-V-E! As in, he’s your special person.” Hunk laughs, tapping a few bottoms on his console. “Man. It sounds like you’ve never been in love.”

 

_ Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?  _ Keith thinks wildly to himself, frantically looking for some kind of escape route when Hunk turns to look at him, eyes growing wide when he sees the state Keith is in.

 

The slow jaw drop that happens makes Keith seriously consider flying out the hatch and jet pack his way back to the Castle. 

 

“ _ Seriously _ ?” Hunk exclaims. “You’ve  _ never  _ been in love before? There hasn’t been  _ anyone  _ who made your heart race or or or made you feel all shy and fluttery or made you want to spend all your time with them?”

 

Keith opens his mouth with the full intention of stating some kind of denial but all he winds up doing is a poor impression of a goldfish. Embarrassed, Keith winds up blushing harder than before as he tries to change the subject. “Is that how you feel about Shay?”

 

It’s Hunk’s turn to blush. “Kinda yeah. But we’re not talking about me! We’re talking about you and your feelings!”

 

“Well, I don’t want to talk about them anymore.”

 

“You can’t avoid your own feelings Keith. That’s like trying to avoid taking your bike in for its ten thousandth mile checkup. There’s only so long you can put it off before the hover system starts fritzing on you and then you’re just playing a game of “When-Will-My-Bike-Suddenly-Die-On-Me”.” 

 

Keith grinds his teeth and wills his stupid face to stop burning. He’s not sure if it’s working or not. So he closes his eyes and tries some breathing exercises. Keith’s half way through this third deep inhale when Hunk’s soft voice interrupts. 

 

“Hey man, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings or pushed you. But you really can’t avoid stuff like this. That’s just gonna hurt you in the long run.”

 

It’s unfortunate that Keith knows exactly how to answer Hunk’s concern. “And if I tell him how I feel it’s going to mess things up between us.” 

 

That’s a no brainer. If Keith tells Shiro how he feels about him, truly. Then it’s going to complicate matters. Not just between him and Shiro, but between them and the team. At this critical point in time, there’s no way Keith’s going to be selfish and prioritize his feelings above the larger mission.

 

That’s a lesson well learned. Keith’s not going to make that mistake again. Not if he can help it.

 

The other man is quiet for a long. It’s a contemplative and sad silence that pulls Keith’s gaze towards Hunk, who is gnawing thoughtfully on his bottom lip. When he glances up and sees Keith watching him, Hunk hesitates a moment before quietly asking, “But do you really think you can keep it a secret from him? Like, no offense but the last time you tried to keep a secret from him, he caught on you weren’t being yourself pretty fast.”

 

That’s embarrassingly true. Shiro knows him too well. It’s going to be hard trying to keep a secret this big from him. Keith makes a face at the thought, stares out into space and mumbles, “I’ll have too.”

 

Hunk makes a strange comforting noise that is oddly reassuring. Also reassuring is the fact that the debris is starting to thin out. Keith moves to stand on Hunk’s right, one hand on the back of his seat as the yellow paladin begins preparations to make the jump.

 

“Hey...” Keith waits for Hunk to look at him before continuing, “This stays between us.”

 

“Of course. We’re brothers. Brothers keep each other's secrets.” 

 

Hunk holds up his fist. Smiling softly, Keith gently bumps their knuckles together. “Let’s go kick some robeast butt.” 

  
“You got it.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] unexpected epiphanies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734012) by [ShirosRedKnight (SweetFanfics)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/pseuds/ShirosRedKnight), [sisi_rambles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles)




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